


The Blood of Chiefs

by Transposable_Element



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Brothers, Conquest, Famine - Freeform, Gen, Telmarine Age
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-16 13:59:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4627914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Transposable_Element/pseuds/Transposable_Element
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why Caspian the First never looked back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Blood of Chiefs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/gifts).



> In response to the prompt, "What led to the Telmarine invasion and conquest of Narnia? Aslan says it was a famine, but famine alone is unlikely to lead to the entirety of a settled people migrating to a new country; some must have stayed in Telmar. Was the migration a regional thing, or did families split down the middle? Was Caspian I royalty before the invasion or did he only rise to prominence in Narnia? How quickly (and why) did the Narnian Telmarines lose contact with their home country? What exactly was the disorder that made Narnia vulnerable to invasion? That entire episode is crying out for exploration and I would like to see your take on it!"

After Boraz made his demand Caspian didn’t speak for a moment. The only sounds were the whine of the harsh wind and the rasp and rattle of every loose object. Caspian coughed. He carefully cleared the grit from his throat to prevent his voice from breaking or faltering.

"I can’t believe you would ask this of me, my brother," he said.

Boraz sighed, as if regretful. “Three years of drought, Caspian. Three years the crops have failed. Our people are starving.”

“Then why don’t you offer one of _your_ sons to the gods?”

“The priests have spoken: the gods crave the blood of a child, a male child of our house. Young Caspian is the only boy of the right age. All of my sons are grown.”

“And the priests know that. How expedient that they ask you for something that costs you nothing to give.”

“Do you think that I hold my nephew’s life to be worthless? He is of my own blood, the blood of chiefs. But to be sacrificed is…it is glorious beyond measure! He will be richly rewarded in the afterlife.”

“So the priests say. I don’t trust them. And even if they speak truly, I will not bow down to gods who demand the blood of my only son.”

"You dare to oppose the gods? You will not fulfill your duty to Telmar?"

"I have served Telmar all my life! I conquered this quarter of the Wild, richer and more fertile land than any in Telmar, and I have held it for 15 years. I did it for the good of Telmar, for the glory of Telmar."

"You did it for your own glory. You did it to bind more men to you and make yourself powerful. Annexing these lands has not benefitted anybody but you. And now your lands are as dry and withered as the rest of Telmar."

"Your people would have starved more than a year ago if it hadn't been for the generosity of my people. And it has cost us dearly. If we had not come to your aid, we would still have enough in reserve to last us through this winter."

"Ah, so now it is 'your people' and 'my people.' So much for the glory of Telmar..."

"I don’t say I regret it. I don’t ask for thanks. I ask you to spare my son."

Boraz looked at Caspian and the sworn men who stood with him. It was a calculating look. Perhaps Boraz was regretting coming to this confrontation with such a small party of men. If he tried to take the boy now, he could not be sure of success. For the first time in his life Caspian was grateful for his brother's vast arrogance, which apparently had led him to believe that Caspian would give up his son without a fight.

Boraz mounted his horse. “I will return in the morning,” he said. “If you give the boy to me without protest, I will forget everything that has passed between us today.”

“I will die before I give him to you,” said Caspian.

“If you insist,” said Boraz.

Caspian spat on his brother’s shadow. It was a grave insult, but Boraz pretended not to see it. He and his men rode away.

 

As Caspian watched them go he examined his feelings and found that on the whole he was glad. There could be no more doubt about what he must do. It was good to have his course so clearly set before him, and to know that he could leave his brother, his gods, and Telmar without guilt or regret. 

He went into the house, where his wife and daughters were waiting anxiously. From the looks on their faces, he could tell that they had heard everything.

"It’s time,” he said. “We go east tonight.”

“To the demons and ghosts?” his wife asked, unable to conceal her horror, even though she had known for months that the move to the east was inevitable.

“It’s the one place we can be certain that my brother won’t follow,” Caspian said. “The gods have been cruel to us these last years. Perhaps demons will serve us better.” He knew that the so-called demons of the eastern lands were not demons at all, but for the time being this superstitious nonsense worked to his benefit. He had been wise to hide the truth from his brother.

His wife looked around her home, at all the tools and treasures she would have to leave behind. “There’s no other way to save our boy's life?” she asked.

“None that I can see. My brother will be back tomorrow with a larger party. He has the men and the weapons to take young Caspian if he chooses to. If he must kill me to do so it won’t trouble him, I think. And even if he doesn’t succeed in taking the boy, you know we face starvation here! We’re near the end of our stores. There is no more game on the plateau, and we’ve eaten all of our animals except the horses. And if we slaughter our horses we’ll have no means to journey eastward when the last of our food runs out.”

“You’re right, of course,” she said. “I wish it were otherwise, but….you are right.”

“So we go. A little sooner than I had planned, but there’s no help for that. Pack only what’s essential: the trail is too steep and narrow for wagons. I’ll ride out now to the farms and settlements and tell the people that it’s time. It’s best that they hear it directly from me. I know they’re frightened, but given a choice between starvation and demons, I think most will choose the demons.”

He turned to leave and saw that young Caspian was standing by the door. The boy’s face was white and his eyes were wide with fear. Still, he held his voice steady as he said, “Father, will you uproot us all for my sake? I’m not afraid. I will...I will go to my uncle, if I must.”

Caspian put a hand on his son's shoulder. “It is for your sake that we go tonight, but we would have gone soon in any case. You will live, and our blood will endure until the world’s end. I swear it." He felt the boy's shoulder relax under his hand. "Now, help your mother and sisters to pack.”

The boy smiled tentatively. "Yes, Father."

Caspian went outside and spoke to his men. “Tell your families to ready themselves. We leave as soon as possible. By midnight, if we can manage it.” His men, who knew of his plans, obeyed without hesitation or fear. Like Caspian they knew that the demons were not really demons. Last autumn, after the second year of drought and crop failure, Caspian had begun leading secret forays into Narnia, to raid and to hunt. And what he found was that although the "demons" were monstrous and unnatural they were only flesh and bone (or at any rate, they were only mortal). The land was fertile, the game abundant, and the Narnians had stores of food for the taking. Better still, they were fractious, quarreling amongst themselves, one race of monsters against another, with no strong leader to unite them. They were not prepared to face a conquerer. It was past time to leave barren Telmar.

 

The stars were bright when Caspian and his followers began the trek to the east. By the time they approached the edge of the plateau that marked the border between their lands and Narnia the sun had risen and was halfway up the sky. Caspian halted at the top of the trail that led down into the lowlands and turned to look at the long line of riders and packhorses. They were well ahead of any pursuit, and he knew they need not hide where they were going, for nobody would follow them into Narnia. As far as his brother was concerned they might as well be dead once they had crossed the border.

Caspian was not afraid, and now he must make his followers brave. To conquer Narnia with such a small force he would need the zeal of every one of his people: armsman, farmer, and craftsman; man, woman, and child.

So he raised his voice and addressed them:

“When we set foot on this trail we close the door on Telmar. We cut all ties with those we leave there, be they close kin, or sworn enemy, or both. We free ourselves from the tyrant Boraz, who has made himself and his people fat at our expense. We leave our gods behind, for they have betrayed us: they have made of our land a barren waste, and now they dare to demand our children's blood! We will no longer humble ourselves before them.

"Turn back now if you must, for if you follow me you will never again set foot in Telmar.

“But know this: we are the true Telmarines. We have strong hearts, strong minds, and strong bodies, and with these we will conquer Narnia and make it our own. You have long been told that this land is rife with ghosts and demons, but you will soon see with your own eyes that this is false. The inhabitants of Narnia are unholy monsters, but they are mortal, and some of them have already died upon my sword. We will rid this land of them. We will cleanse this land of everything foul and corrupt and make it rich and prosperous. To do this we must hold nothing back, but give ourselves wholly to the conquest of Narnia. Follow me, and we will claim our destiny.”

Caspian did not look to see whether anybody was hesitating, but led the way onto the trail. He turned his back on Telmar, and all who followed him did the same. So Caspian the First embarked upon his conquest of Narnia.

**Author's Note:**

> I realized after writing the first draft that I had violated one piece of your headcanon (which you had asked NFE writers to follow) by having Telmar directly bordering on Narnia. I thought the story couldn't work well unless Caspian's lands bordered Narnia, so I rewrote it so that Caspian had already conquered and occupied a chunk of the Wild. Since Caspian and his people were holding the territory it would presumably not remain part of Telmar for very long after they left. Anyway I hope that doesn't make too much of a mess of your headcanon.


End file.
